DnD5e Tweak No2: Better Fighters

Issue 2: Fighters specifically should have better accuracy, regardless of weapon choice

Problem:

All else being equal (stats, equipment, etc), a martial's accuracy with a weapon they're proficient in is exactly on part with that of a caster. This does not spark joy for the martial - ESPECIALLY a dedicated Fighter class character. A build concept that wants to be part martial and part caster (Usually called a gish, spellsword, or some other term that gets the point across - see this Screenrant article for deeper context) will usually take more levels in a caster than a martial, and/or pick a caster with a martially inclined subclass (such as Bladedancer Wizard).

As with proposal number 1: magical weapons and complex abilities should not be the blanket solution here; the former are not guaranteed to be acquired, and asking a martial to embrace complex in-combat decision making, multiclass elsewhere, or take a magical ability granting feat defeats the purpose of them being a humble sword-swinging martial in the first place.

Improving the play experience of martials is a broad thing I want to tackle of course, but to narrow scope and focus on the point implied by the title: Fighters should be king amongst martials for the bread-and-butter act of Hitting People with Weapons, and should feel this impact early on. This desire is what has the Fighting Style of Archery (a flat +2 attack roll bonus to ranged weapons) at the top of most build ranking lists, because who doesn't want more accuracy? The opportunity cost of passing that golden goose up is massive, and ranged combat already has you a safe ways away from most retaliation. This makes archer fighters a no-brainer for those who simply want the best odds to hit their target and/or be away from the danger while still contributing to combat. 

At the very least, melee combatants that are putting more on the line should be treated to a similar accuracy boost with their melee weapon attacks; perhaps even an AC boost to aid with the additional threats they're going to face in melee. Yes, they can flank to get advantage... if you can find two melee combatants that embrace being in the fray and all that implies. Depending on how high the CR of the creature is, that can be a tough sell - some "boss" creatures have specific counters to people in melee with them, to include retaliatory reactions upon receiving a melee hit.

Proposal:

Buff fighter accuracy by splitting the Fighting Style ability in two: one half for providing attack roll bonuses with specific weapon types and weapon-wielding setups (named Weapon Preference), and another half providing miscellaneous combat style benefits besides (which will keep the name of Fighting Style). This lets the class feel properly exceptional both as a martial and compared to other martials - they hit more often with their straight-up better accuracy! Weapon Preference will also help add quality of life improvements for their particular weapon setups.

Instead of a +2 off the bat, this will be a +1 upon reaching 3rd level, which rises to a +2 at 5th level, and finally a +3 at 13th level. This is mostly a barrier to keep single-level dips into the class from reaping immediate benefits with minimal investment, but also maintains a sense of progression that has players look forward to getting even better at their main thing on the horizon, alongside getting more Extra Attacks.

"Well what about level 1 and 2 fighters, with no levels in anything else?" Valid question! Please show me a table that doesn't start their games at level 3 off the bat, and I'll humor you with an answer. I jest - they'll probably be fine. While Weapon Preference will be at 3rd level, the non-accuracy-boosting Fighting Styles will still be at level 1. In essence, a fighter kinda-sorta has three subclasses in the same way Warlock kinda-sorta has two via their Pact Boon: the traditional one, their Fighting Style, and their Weapon Preference.

Fighting Style

With the addition of Weapon Preferences, some Fighting Styles have been made redundant. Below is a list of all Fighting Styles from PHB, TCE, and UA adjusted to fit this homebrew.
 

• Archery (PHB): Redundant and removed with Weapon Preferences in play.

• Blind Fighting (TCE): As published, but the blindsight range is a number of feet equal to Proficiency Bonus x 5 (So still 10 feet to start, but grows as the fighter levels)

• Close Quarters Shooter (UA): As published, but remove the bonus to attack rolls. Within the listed 30 foot range, a shooter ignores the AC bonus to shields that their target is wielding.

• Defense (PHB): Your AC is permanently increased by 1, even when unarmored. You don't suffer the penalties for wearing armor while sleeping, can don and doff it in one-sixth the usual time, and can do either as a single action in a pinch - once per long rest. Finally, you can spend a short rest scrounging for fabric scraps or something similar (such as woven plant material), and making a shoddy set of armor with no sale value. This shoddy armor is treated as either padded armor or hide armor, only works when worn by you, and decays back into valueless scrap cloth (or other material) when you take a long rest.

• Dueling (PHB): Increase the damage bonus to be equal to your Proficiency modifier. 

• Great Weapon Fighting (PHB): As published, but if the damage dice roll on a 1 or 2, the die result is automatically treated as a 3 - no reroll. This is a sidegrade meant to save time rerolling dice; a DM can allow it to work exactly as published for a given player, or allow the player to alternate between the two per attack if desired.

• Mariner (UA): Available without modification, but these benifits have been split between the Agile Brawler and Brutish Brawler Weapon Preferences. The +1 AC bonus does not stack with the scaling AC bonus an Brutish Brawler gains.

• Selfless Protector (Homebrew): A fusion of Interception (TCE) and Protection (PHB) - you can spend a reaction to do one or the other, but only one per enemy attack.
• The Interception half of this new feat remains as published, but the damage reduction is equal to double your proficiency bonus + 1d6. 
• The Protection half of this new feat is usable with either a simple or martial weapon as well as a shield, to match the requirements of Interception.
• A fighter with Extra Attack can forefit Extra Attacks on their upcoming turn to use Selfless Protector a like number of times, effectively granting them extra reactions usable only for this feature. For example, a 5th level fighter can forefit their single Extra Attack to Protect a total of two times, and an 11th level fighter can forefit both Extra Attacks to Protect a total of three times - and so on. 

• Superior Technique (TCE): As published, but increase the number of superiority die to Proficiency Bonus - 1 to allow a bit of scaling. 

• Thrown Weapon Fighting (TCE): Redundant and removed, see Thrower weapon preference

• Tunnel Fighter (UA): As published.

• Two-Weapon Fighting (PHB): As published, plus the latter two benefits in the Dual Wielder feat: ability to use two-weapon fighting with non-light weapons, and the ability to draw/stow both weapons at once. The AC bonus from this feat has been moved to the Twin Weapon Wielder Weapon Preference (and buffed); the original Dual Wielder feat still exists to be taken normally, but it's now mostly redundant for Fighters. An offensively minded fighter with the Shield-Bearer Weapon Preference may also find this Fighting Style useful.

• Unarmed Fighting (TCE): Redundant and removed; see the Agile Brawler and Brutish Brawler Weapon Preferences.

• Weapon Wounder (Homebrew): Your focus is damage, first and foremost. Pick a Weapon Preference category, even if you're not level 3 yet. You gain a bonus to damage rolls equal to your proficiency bonus with melee attacks that would gain a bonus to attack rolls from that class feature. When you reach level 3, your Weapon Preference must match the category you chose for Weapon Wounder - although you can change the category of one or both to achieve this.

Weapon Preference

Beginning at 3rd level, you have grown to have a preference for a particular groups of armaments. Choose one of the following weapon categories; in addition to the listed benefits, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls you make with those weapons, which increases to +2 at level 5 and +3 at level 13. You can't take a Weapon Preference option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

• Archer: Ranged weapons that use ammunition. You can use a held ranged weapon (such as a shortbow or crossbow) as an improvised melee weapon that deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage and has the finesse property. As normal, you can also use held ammunition as an improvised weapon. In either situation, you don't get the bonus to attack rolls during this melee use. If you wield a crossbow or firearm, any blacksmith or other crafter can turn this to piercing damage via a bayonet, a simple modification that costs 3gp (or 1gp plus a dagger already paid for or otherwise available). You are additionally adept at recovering and making ammunition in the field: If you end a long rest with 10 or less of a given ammunition type, you gain an additional 20 of that same ammo type - which has no value when sold on account of its shoddy nature, but works just fine when used by you. If your DM has granted access to firearms, this includes both bullets and the gunpowder necessary to make them useful. This Weapon Preference renders the Archer Fighting Style redundant.

• Agile Brawler: Your fists, kicks, and other body parts - which deal more damage as well as boosting your defense. Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength mod (minimum 1), and you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack rolls. Additionally, as long as you are not wearing medium or heavy armor, using a shield, or wielding a weapon (unless it has the light property), you have a swimming speed and a climbing speed equal to your normal speed - 10ft (or increases those speeds by 10ft, if you already have a swim or climb speed from another source). This renders the Mariner Fighting Style partially redundant.

• Brutish Brawler: Your fists, kicks, and other body parts - which deal more damage as well as boosting your grappling effectiveness. Gain benefits exactly as Unarmed Fighting, but buff the start-of-turn damage for a grappled victim to deal bludgeoning 1d4 + Strength mod (minimum 1). Additionally, as long as you are not wearing heavy armor or wielding a weapon, add Weapon Preference's bonus to your attack rolls to your AC as well. This renders the Unarmed Fighting Fighting Style redundant.
• DM Note: Got Monks or Barbarians worried about their niche being trampled on with unarmored defense? For such classes: instead of the non-Dex stat that class feature says to add to their AC, offer to instead add their proficiency bonus to AC when the same conditions are met. A player can alternate between one or the other each level-up, but it is otherwise locked in.

• One-Handed Weapons: Any melee weapon wielded in one hand. A one-handed weapon with the versatile trait that is wielded in two hands to benefit from its increase in die size is also valid.

• Shield-bearer: A shield, which counts as a martial weapon that deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage for you alone, allowing you to use it as a weapon either in its own right, in tandem with a true weapon via dual-weapon fighting, or as a pair of shields; as normal, you can only reap an AC bonus from your shields once. When you wield any shield, add Weapon Preference's bonus to your attack rolls to your AC as well.
• GM Note: The addition of a buckler as a lighter shield granting less defense is also a possibility: These cost 5gp, weigh 3lb, only boost AC by +1, and require shield proficiency to avoid disadvantage on various rolls as normal for shields. If such an alternate shield is permitted, a Shield-bearer Fighter would treat it as a martial weapon that deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage and has the light and finesse properties.

• Thrower: Thrown melee weapons; you gain the attack roll bonus for both the melee and ranged uses. You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon.

• Twin Weapon Wielder: When wielding a melee weapon in both hands, this benefit apples to both weapons; while armed this way, add Weapon Preference's bonus to your attack rolls to your AC as well.

• Two-Handed Weapons: Any melee weapon wielded with two hands. This includes all weapons with the two-handed trait, and one-handed weapons with the versatile trait being wielded in two hands to benefit from; wielding it with one hand disqualifies you from gaining the accuracy bonus.

Justification:

Yeah, I took the Fighting Style feature and expanded it a ton. Yes, building a fighter sheet is more complex with this homebrew active. But these are all set-and-forget modifications! The goal of "now EVERY type of Fighter gets an accuracy boost, not just Archers" has been achieved, at the cost of a small amount of work during the character creation phase only. What I sought to avoid was adding in-combat complexity by adding abilities a fighter would need to choose on their turn, with each attack.

Those decisions are still as opt-in as they were before: Superior Technique is still a "Battlemaster Lite" Fighting Style option, Tunnel Fighter will have to consider when to and when not to enter their stance, and someone who takes Selfless Protector will have their own decision making tree to go through every time a nearby ally is threatened by an attack. All other Fighting Style options are mostly or totally passive, and the "just do more damage" options have been consolidated to the Dueling and Weapon Wounder Fighting Styles.

Flaws:

While I'm kinda proud of myself for splitting Unarmed Fighting into Agile Brawler and Brutish Brawler, the persisting trouble of Strength vs Dexterity remains unaddressed at its core. In addition, I'm sure that the Weapon Wounder Fighting Style's existence (and everything removed from other Styles as a result) is a can of worms I can't fully foresee the consequences of yet, especially when compounded with my prior tweak recommendation.